Firefly III - A free and open source personal finance manager | WarmIndex

Firefly III is a free, open-source, self-hosted personal finance manager designed for individuals seeking privacy and control over their financial data.

🚀 Overview

Firefly III is a powerful self-hosted personal finance application that allows users to track their income, expenses, budgets, and savings goals using a double-entry bookkeeping system. It supports transactions in multiple currencies, data import from various sources, automated rules for transaction management, and generates insightful reports and charts to help users understand their spending habits.

This project solves the problem of relying on cloud-based finance apps that may compromise user privacy or charge subscriptions. Instead, Firefly III runs entirely on your own server, ensuring data sovereignty without external dependencies unless explicitly configured.

It is built for tech-savvy users comfortable with self-hosting, privacy-conscious individuals, and those who want advanced features like recurring transactions, piggy banks for goals, and a REST API for integrations. The creator aimed to provide a free alternative emphasizing financial independence and open-source principles.

✨ Key Features

Double-entry bookkeeping system for accurate financial tracking across multiple currencies
Advanced rule engine to automate transaction categorization, cleanup, and shorthand processing
Data Importer for seamless imports from banks, CSVs, or APIs
Budgets, categories, tags, and piggy banks for goal-based savings
Comprehensive reports, charts, and search capabilities for insights
REST JSON API for mobile apps and third-party tools
Optional: 2FA, recurring transactions, Docker support

🛠 Tech Stack

Frontend: Vue.js, Blade templates, JavaScript, CSS
Backend: PHP, Laravel
Database: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite
Auth: Custom with 2FA support / Laravel Passport
Hosting: Docker, self-managed servers, Kubernetes, Cloudron

👥 Who Is This For?

This project is useful for:

Developers and self-hosters who want full control over their personal finance data
Privacy-focused individuals tracking expenses, budgets, and savings without cloud services
Indie users building custom finance workflows via API integrations

📸 Screenshots / Demo

Live demo: https://demo.firefly-iii.org
GitHub: https://github.com/firefly-iii/firefly-iii

🔥 Project Status

🟢 Actively building

Last updated: 2026-03-24

❓ FAQ

Is this project free?

Yes — Open Source (AGPL-3.0 license). (Completely free to use, self-host, and modify.)

Is the source code available?

Yes — https://github.com/firefly-iii/firefly-iii

Can I contribute?

Yes, contributions welcome via GitHub issues, pull requests, bug reports, feature suggestions, and translations. Follow the contributing guidelines in the docs and code of conduct.